PART 1

Day five of our vacation.

I suppose it was obvious that I could only delay the inevitable for so long. As much as I preferred to keep things within the beach episode framework, Josh was really insistent about his training arc, so I had no choice but to accommodate him to the training facility. Like that, I was currently standing within its magical bubble, though only on the sidelines for the time being, and observing everyone's efforts.

We had once again divided into multiple groups. On one hand, all of my in-laws joined team Magi on a road trip to the closest tower (Migdál Chloros, if my memory served right). Not all of them though, just Sahi, Pascal, and Lord Barnabas. While on paper they were here to guard Ammy, they must have already realized that there were no imminent threats in the Elysium, and since she was accompanying me at the moment, they allowed their curiosity get the better of them.

I couldn't blame them though; the contrast between the pastoral outer settlements and the Celestial magitech crystal towers was an intriguing one, and it made sense that the Magi in particular would be curious about the latter. Others had different priorities though, and there was no rush either. Case in point, while the class rep was also clearly curious, she was currently way more focused on a different discovery.

"Mike, look! I did it!"

Speaking of her, she was currently downright ecstatic and practically hopping around a floating, semi-transparent golden hexagon. It looked like a single pane of the interlocking magic barriers Lord Gulliver used. Actually, now that I thought about it, Pascal also specialized in force fields, and his were made of small hexagons as well. Heck, once I dug even deeper into my memories, I was pretty sure the magic shield Crowy conjured up to defend himself against Elly's breath attack was also made of hexagons.

Why was that? I sincerely doubted all of these different spells and magics had the same root, so from a Watsonian perspective, all of them looking similar was a bit hard to justify. However, from a Doylist point of view, it was a well-known fact that hexagons were the bestagons, and they were a very efficient pattern found in nature and represented stability and whatnot. Looking at it like that, it made a lot of sense that defensive powers would use them as a visual shorthand. It's like how poisons were always green regardless of the compound, because arsenic was green and the two became synonymous in the common consciousness.

I would've looked for a second opinion on this idea, but Judy was currently busy watching Elly's sparring match with Josh at the other end of the training facility, so I had no one to turn to. Not that I had the opportunity, as I was soon intercepted by the beaming class rep.

"Leo! Come, look at this!"

"I saw it. It's…" I wanted to say 'impressive', but I was afraid it would come off as sarcastic, so I reworded it into, "… a lot of progress."

"It is!"

I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her so excited, with her magical orbs circling her head so fast I was afraid they would give someone a concussion if they got in the way. Michael apparently shared my concerns, as he took hold of Ammy's hand.

"Calm down, sunshine."

He was dressed in his uniform and using his official position as an excuse to stay close to me, just so he could hang out with her. I found that a bit silly, as I specifically gave him the whole week off for that purpose, but at this point I gave up on trying to convince him to relax and just let him do whatever he wanted.

"I'm calm! I'm perfectly calm!" Ammy insisted.

"Then why are you yelling?" I asked, but she didn't respond.

"Do you want to test how resilient it is?" Mike proposed to his girlfriend, and Ammy's eyes lit up at once.

"Right! If I could cast a safeguard incantation, I should be able to cast a fireball too!"

I wouldn't have been surprised if she tried to do it right away, but then her demeanour shifted all of a sudden and she stared at me with an implied question. One I naturally couldn't understand without her speaking up.

"What?"

"Say, do you have any idea why I can suddenly cast complex incantations here, but not back home?"

"I haven't the foggiest," I admitted, but she remained skeptical.

"But you're… you know?"

"He's what?" Mike blurted out, completely losing the thread of the conversation. I couldn't blame him.

"Trust me, Ammy. If I could just give people power-ups any time I want, I wouldn't be facing nearly as many headaches as I do now."

To illustrate the point, I unsubtly glanced at the duel unfolding between Josh and Elly. He was going all out, all of his Celestial wings glowing behind him and his new sword wreathed in the same kind of energy as his summoned arm-blades were in the past. Elly wasn't holding back either, and instead of using her Magiformer, she opted to fully transform into her draconic form.

They were both on the ground right now, though I'd seen them clash in the air before. Josh moved with a kind of instinctive grace, aggressively pushing her with a series of arching swings combined with shield bashes and edge strikes. The clear similarities in style showed that he had learned a thing or two from armour guy, yet the way he was using the same moves was discernibly different.

Elly, in contrast, remained on guard and precisely parried and countered each of his strikes with her bare hands. Or as much as her dragon-scale-covered knuckles and forearms counted as 'bare' in any case. She never met his attacks edge-on, opting to knock on the flat of his sword, and maybe because Josh still wasn't very familiar with his weapon, it worked shockingly well.

It made sense though. For centuries the only real enemy of the Draconians were the Knights, and since they were a faction specialized in medieval weaponry, the princess being thoroughly trained on how to counter swords was a given. She assured me that she had it in the bag, and while I was a bit wary to let her spar with Josh using real weapons, her insistence won me over, and she really did have the upper hand.

But anyhow, I was still in a conversation with the class rep, and once she understood the meaning of my words, she also turned back to me and let out a soft huff.

"I understand, but it's still peculiar that everyone else is having a hard time tapping into the local Ley Lines while I'm thriving here. Are you sure that 'destiny' isn't involved?"

Before I could respond, Mike grimaced and muttered, "I told you, sugarflower; this is Elysium. We should have no Ley Lines at all."

"But they're here!" she argued back, bordering on a pout. "Look! I mean, I know that you can't sense them, but trust me that they're here, and there, and everywhere! It's like…" She made a vague gesture towards the nearest tower, visible over the tree line. "I think each one of those is built on a Nexus, and then the Ley Lines branch out from there. They're also much more organized than the ones back home."

"Trust me, I believe you," Mike told her while holding up his palms. "If you say so, then I'm sure there's something there, and you can use your Magi powers, so it has to be true, but… I just don't think they're Ley Lines."

"Then what else could they be?"

It took me a while to realize that she wasn't addressing that question to Michael but to me, and I automatically shrugged.

"Can you please stop looking at me like that? I'm not omniscient."

"Yet?" she added in an unusual display of cheekiness, and it took some effort not to groan.

"No, in general. If I was, I would have even fewer headaches to worry about."

Ammy remained silent for the moment, seriously mulling over my words.

"So it's another one of your secrets you don't want to explain, right?"

"No?" I responded, sounding a bit more flabbergasted than planned.

She shook her head in return and put a hand on her hip.

"The other option is that you're unaware of something this peculiar, and I'm just not buying that." She followed it up with a dramatic sigh. "I know I should be used to this by now, but I thought we were past the point of secrets already."

"I'm telling you; I have no idea what you're talking about. At all."

"Sure."

She said that, but her eyes were telling the exact opposite.

"Come on, honeybunch. You're making Leonard uncomfortable," Mike came to the rescue and hooked his own arm into the one resting on her hip. "Let's try making fireballs first."

"Right. We can figure out the mystery later," she relented and let herself be guided back to the floating hexagon again. Though not before sending me one of those glances that said a thousand words.

Or at the very least something along the lines of 'I know, and I know you know, and I know that you know I know, so I'm expecting you to come clean in private later', which was just a little bit troubling, as I had genuinely no idea what she was talking about. On a different note, I made a mental note to thank Mike for the save later. For the time being, I focused on the other people at the training grounds.

The duel between Elly and Josh was still raging on in the back, but it was at a bit of a stale-mate at the moment, so I glanced at the next duo. There, Arnwald and Angie were practising archery… or should've been, at the very least. If they weren't arguing, that is.

"You dare to teach me about the bow, you—?" she burst out, only to forcefully clear her throat. "S-Sorry! What Grandpa Deus meant to say was that he's been using bows for a looong time, so…"

"It doesn't mean that what you're doing is right," Arnwald stood his ground. He was clad in his Uniformer, with a familiar red-and-black longbow seemingly made entirely of metal in his hand. He gestured towards the hole on the ground next to where a row of target dummies used to stand. "This is recklessness."

"But… I did get the target, right?" Angie pleaded, and the senior Knight let out a tired breath.

"Listen, Angeline. You're planning to join Joshua and Leonard when fighting Bel of the Abyss. Is that right?"

"Yes, that's the plan."

"I saw how your last attempt to join hands in an effort to subdue him turned out," he continued on, embodying the tone of a disapproving drill instructor down pat. "As an archer, your role is to provide precision support for your allies. Divide the attention of the enemy, take advantage of their openings, or force new openings for your allies to exploit."

"Yes, but…"

"In that whole fight, I couldn't see a hint of such tactical behavior. If anything, your uncontrolled use of your powers forced My Liege to divide his attention between fighting off the villain and keeping you safe."

"I-I know, but…"

"Teamwork is essential when it comes to facing a superior foe, and as an archer, you must have the utmost trust of your allies, ensuring that they would never have to feel worried about your arrows missing their mark and injuring them at a critical moment. For that, you need to prove that you're precise…" Without warning, he pulled his bowstring back and let a thin blue energy arrow loose. It flew straight and true, and hit one of the standing dummies squarely in the forehead. "… fast…" By the time he uttered the word, the second arrow already hit its mark, embedding itself so close to the first one they were practically touching. "… and consistent." And with that, he let loose the third arrow, and it landed right next to the first two.

"…"

Angie remained silent and only shuffled her feet. I wouldn't have been surprised if there was an internal argument between her and Deus in her head, but I couldn't know for sure, and neither could our Sir Eagle. As such, he continued in a slightly softer tone.

"This was a lesson one of my mentors, the late Sir Ivor taught me, and it was one of the first and most important ones I'd ever received. If you wish to step forth on the field of battle once again, it is paramount that you heed its wisdom, lest your allies will be the ones to pay the price for your hubris."

"I… understand." Angie hugged her own bow close to her chest and lightly bowed. "Please teach me."

"Very well." Arnwald's lips bent up into a thin-lipped smile, but only for a moment, and gestured for her to pay attention. "Your destructive power is respectable, but you must rein in your impulses to use it indiscriminately. You must first learn precision, and then we'll discuss how to identify the right opportunities to safely unleash your full power."

"Sir, yes sir!" Angie exclaimed determinedly, much to the senior Knight's satisfaction (and quiet amusement), and they soon returned to archery practice.

That side was mostly taken care of, though I made a note to keep an eye on them to ensure Arnwald wouldn't fall into the mentor rabbit hole in the future. Ideally, I should've figured out how to turn my inherent Narrative-ness to good use and learn how to suppress undesirable tropes (such as Mentor Occupational Hazard) one of these days, instead of just triggering them at random, but I wasn't quite there yet.

But speaking of mentors, there was another pair practising near the other end of the training field, close to the edge of the bubble.

"Hi-yah!" Penny exclaimed with gusto as she swung her large two-hander in a wide arc.

"You need to be faster," Morgana told her sternly, her recently blooming motherly side nowhere to be seen on her face. "You're leaving yourself open on the back-draw. You need to minimize the time between striking and returning to your neutral stance."

"I know, but it's hard…" Penny whined and made a few more practice swings, this time much faster. Since we didn't bring any training weapons with us, she borrowed Morgana's flamberge, and it looked almost comically oversized in her small hands. "Uuu… If I focus on speed like this, it feels like I'm wasting the impact of my weapon."

"A two-handed sword is not a club," Morgana spoke firmly, and held out her hand, asking for her weapon back. When Penny handed it over, she immediately lowered her center of gravity and took up a stand, holding her blade high before performing a sequence of rapid strikes, each one smoothly flowing into the other like a series of flourishes. When done, she stood straight again and held out her weapon. "You said you wished to learn how to wield a two-handed blade because you felt like your own weapon lacked stopping power."

"Yes!" My sister nodded along excitedly, not realizing the point Morgana was trying to make.

"You're approaching this from the wrong direction. This sword doesn't exist to pummel your enemies into submission or to break their defences through brute force. A flamberge's main advantage lies in its reach and speed. You're naturally fast and agile, thanks to the Mantle of the Unicorn Knight, so your main focus should be mastering point control and leverage."

"I get it!" Penny declared as she accepted the sword again, and took up a clumsy stance, like a JRPG character holding an enormous buster sword. "That way, I can surprise the opponent with my speed, and then I can hit them very, very hard!"

Our Dame Gorgon looked at her with eyes that were asking if she was pulling her leg, but Penny remained entirely serious.

"Um… I don't think that's what she meant," Snowy chimed in from the side. She had been watching them from a distance in silence, and only now chose to add to the conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"You better think about it a bit more," Morgana uttered, sounding just a bit tired.

"Oh, I think I get it!" Penny exclaimed and shifted her stance. "You're saying that instead of focusing just on speed, like before, or just on strength, I should do both at the same time!"

"I don't think that's it either…" Snowy tried to correct her, but Morgana stopped her.

"It's fine. Penelope is a natural. With some practice, she should recognize the correct approach." Then, after a brief pause, she added, "Hopefully."

However, just as they were about to continue, an unexpected new face burst into the scene.

"Sorry, but can I borrow Neige for a bit?" Elly asked the moment she landed near the trio, much to Snowy's surprise.

"Me? Is there a problem?"

"No, it's just that…" She pointed a red-scaled thumb over her shoulder. "We finished sparring with Joshua, but my blood's still boiling, and then I realized that we haven't sparred in ages! Are you up for a friendly match?"

"Um…" Snowy looked a bit reluctant, but seeing how enthusiastic the princess was about it, she weakly asked, "Are you sure? The last time we fought, it was… not a good memory…"

"Don't sweat that!" Elly grinned at her, her tail excitedly swaying side to side. "That happened ages ago, and I want to see how much better we got since then!"

"In that case…" She glanced at Penny, then Morgana, and ultimately let out a determined hum. "I'm curious too."

"Let's go then!"

While my girlfriend dragged my sister over to the spot where she fought Josh just a few minutes ago, my other girlfriend arrived at my side with the same guy in tow. Josh was unharmed but a bit out of hit, with beads of sweat tricking down his forehead.

"Good news, Chief," Judy declared and showed me her phone screen. "Elly rose in the power rankings again."

"You're still doing that?" I muttered, but then a different question came to mind. "I've seen you take notes all week. How does your phone even have any charge left?"

"I brought ten fully charged power packs with me," she answered off-handedly and pointed at the screen again. "Look at the chart, please."

"I'm more worried about the fire hazard, but…" I squinted at the aforementioned chart and fell silent for a bit. "Since when I'm at the top?"

"Is that a serious question?"

The one asking that was Josh, who took my girlfriend's weird hobby in stride.

"With how many powerups you received since the last official power ranking, it would be stranger if you weren't at the top."

"Speaking of powerups, Ammy can now cast proper spells."

My dear assistant's eyes lit up at once and she put away her phone.

"I'll go and document the new development. I'll be back shortly."

"Have fun."

She waved at me and skipped over to the class rep's and Mike's side, who were still experimenting with fireballs. That meant I was left alone with Josh, and the moment she was out of earshot, he let out a rung-rattling sigh.

"You don't happen to have a few of those spare power-ups lying around, do you?" he asked half-jokingly, and the fact it was only half so was enough to tell me he was getting just a bit frustrated.

"I don't know why everyone thinks I can just hand those out all willy-nilly," I grumbled, and he shrugged in return.

"Hey, I couldn't hurt to ask."

"Progress?" I asked nonchalantly and got another sigh in return.

"Not much. I feel like…" He abruptly pulled his sword out of storage and held it out vertically. "Idunno… I think I'm getting better with practice, but it's just not… you know? It doesn't feel 'special'."

"Special," I repeated after him, and he nodded while looking at his own reflection on the obsidian-black blade.

"Yeah. Like, I'm waiting for some kind of epiphany or big realization or something, but…" He let down his sword and sighed again, for the third time in a row. "I really dunno man. I mean, I'm getting more used to my Celestial powers, and Mr Androcles says that I'm clearly showing the 'supremacy of a true Ophanim', whatever the heck that means…"

"Eight-winged Celestials. They used to be a big deal," I told him, and he waved his hand with a soft 'whatever'.

"The point I'm trying to make is that everyone tells me I'm getting stronger, but… it just feels wrong. These Celestial powers, I mean. Or… how should I put it…? It feels like I'm doing something wrong."

"As in?"

"I just said that I have no idea, man," he continued to grumble. "If anything, I was hoping you could give me a clue."

"How could I do that when you yourself don't know what's the problem?"

"But… Isn't this your thing?" he blurted out without much thinking. "I mean, I get that powerups don't grow on trees like in games, but isn't there something up your sleeve?"

"I can't say I do. Your situation is pretty unique, because of this whole 'Chosen One' thing you had going on. The best I can tell you is that you should think about the source of your power and how to make the best of it."

"The source of my power…" he echoed me, sounding like I just gave him an idea.

In particular, I was referring to Deus. After all, he was currently locked into being a Celestial due to absorbing some of Angie's Deus-ness through the good ol' matrimonial polka. I saw first-hand how OP Angie could be if she fully tapped into that power, so there was a good chance Josh had lots of untapped potential as well. I couldn't help him access that without actively tweaking his core essence though… which I technically could do, but that process was just a wee bit too close to retconning, and since technically we were already in the middle of a retcon initiated by future-me, I didn't want to cause some kind of weird, recursive error by initiating a retcon within a retcon.

"That's food for thought…" Josh muttered by my side and then let out a soft chuckle. "Eh, at least I'm not the only one who has trouble powering up."

Following his line of sight, I found Penny being lectured by Morgana and decided to remain silent. Not just because ragging on my own little sister wouldn't been mean, but because if I told the guy about the plans I had for her, he might've started nagging me about powerups all over again. Fortunately, this whole conversation was cut short by the deep, rumbling sound of a small explosion, followed by the class rep practically jumping into Mike's arms while yelling, "I did it!"

Everyone was improving, and that was a good thing. I hoped.

PART 2

Day six of our vacation.

It was late in the night, after the girls had already gone to sleep, that I decided to step out for some fresh air. Sneaking out of bed without waking anyone and dressing up in silence had long since become yet another in my long list of weird skills, and after tucking in the princess (she had a bad habit of kicking off her blankets in her sleep), I slipped out of the beach house and took a deep breath.

The air was cool and salty, as expected of the seaside, and the clear sky was awash with the light of countless stars. Unlike on Critias, where light pollution was a thing, the Milky Way was clear to see even with the naked eye. Maybe even a bit too visible, as I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be this bright, especially with a crescent moon hanging in the sky. But then again, it wasn't real. Or at the very least I was pretty sure it wasn't.

Ah, right. That word. 'Real'. I've grown to strongly dislike that world as of late. Not that I was ever a huge fan of it, to begin with, considering all the existentialistic questions it imposed on us ever since I first started looking into the nature of the Simulacrum. Even before I knew what it was called.

My legs absently carried me towards the shore as my mind continued to wander. It felt like it's been ages since I first woke up in this world, but in truth, it's only been a little over half a year. It probably felt longer because my life was just so, for the lack of better words, dense. New discoveries, new crises, new friends and foes… it was like a giant revolving door that kept me moving, lest the next door-flap would smack me in the back of the head, so I never had much opportunity to unwind.

Even now, while I was ostensibly relaxing on the beach, I was acutely aware that other things were happening in the background, out of sight for most. Future-me was still stirring the pot in the Abyss, Ammy's role as the Conduit of the Grimoire still needed fleshing out, and even this beach episode of ours was a calculated development invoked on purpose. But if so, then was any of it 'real'? Did any of our actions have any meaning? Was a vacation arranged with such motives in mind actually count as a vacation? Would Skyminton become the new national sport of Elysium?

Okay, maybe that last question was not like the others, but it was hard to keep my mind on track when it came to heavy topics like this. Even if I forcefully ignored all the metaphysical and extra-Simulacral things going on, and pushed the 'What does 'real' even mean in our context?' into the 'Philosophical headaches to resolve later, when I have nothing better to do' pile, I was still left with a lot to think about.

Meanwhile, I reached a familiar stony outcrop at the edge of the beach and sat down on its edge. The waves were calm and didn't reach my soles hanging from the edge, and everything was just so quiet. My eyes were once again drawn to the sky, and I squinted as I stared at the outline of the Milky Way. It certainly wasn't the 'real' one, because the Elysium was a kind of pocket-space. It probably wasn't a straight-up painted dome over our heads, but more like a mirage that emulated the 'real' sky. However, the 'real' sky outside of the Elysium was still inside the Simulacrum, so it wasn't strictly 'real' either.

Did that make the night sky I was staring at double-not-real? Would the two negatives cancel each other out and make it actually real? I was pretty sure it didn't work like that, but it wouldn't have been the first time the world was counter-intuitive.

I would've probably continued to absently muse about the nature of what is real and the semantic interpretations of double negatives, if not for a bright star catching my attention. Specifically because it was moving. Outside, I would've considered that it was a plane, but in the Elysium, it was much more likely to be a flying Celestial. Except they usually weren't glowing that bright, unless someone was disguising themselves as a UFO.

"Right… Draconians do that, don't they?" I mused aloud while tracking the bright yellow dot high in the sky. Or… was it? In fact, it was getting bigger by the second, and before long, it was bright enough to blot out the rest of the stars.

It landed somewhere nearby, and about a minute later, I noticed that someone was approaching the rocky outcrop.

"…"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Angie silently walked towards me on the stones. She was wearing her swimsuit with a shawl around her hips and her sandals made soft clicking sounds as she approached me. Then, without a single word, she just sat down next to me, her shoulders nearly touching mine.

We remained silent for a while, and after some consideration, I turned to her and uttered a single word.

"Deus?"

"So you could tell," she responded with a hint of a smile and let out a soft sigh before throwing her head back and gazing at the stars.

To be fair, it wasn't hard to guess. Angie never really cranked up her halo (both in the literal and metaphorical sense) as much as Deus did whenever he was in control, and considering the golden shooting star I just witnessed a few minutes ago, it wasn't difficult to put two and two together.

"What are you doing out here at this hour?" I asked absently, just to fill the silence, and her attention returned to me.

"I could ask the same thing of you," she retorted calmly, but after a bit, she lightly shrugged. "The girl was sleeping like a log, so I thought I'd come out to clear my thoughts."

"Is that healthy?"

"Don't be a worrywart," she dismissed me with a wave of her hand. "I look after myself. She's me, so I'll make sure she'll get a good night's sleep afterwards. I just… sometimes even I need some time for myself."

"I can relate to that," I whispered, and she nodded like it was something profound. "So? What's on your mind?"

"Nothing much in particular," she told me off-the-cuff, but then she immediately followed it up with, "Elysium hasn't changed much." I couldn't really comment on that, so I just let out an ambivalent grunt, which she interpreted as agreement. "Certainly not as much as the rest of the world. But… I think the biggest thing that changed is us."

She pulled up one leg and hugged it to her chest, resting her head on her knee as she stared at me. It looked mildly uncomfortable, but it was a fairly cute pose that… surprisingly didn't make my inner Polemos go gaga. Probably because I'd thoroughly beaten it into submission over the months.

I waited for her to continue, but Deus just kept staring me in the eye. There was a faint tension in the air; not the UST kind, but rather the sensation you get when you watch something teetering on the edge and just about to lose its balance.

"Polemos?"

"Yes," I responded reflexively.

"Are you really the Polemos I know?"

That made me blink, but I otherwise managed to keep my expression in check and muttered a soft, "That's an odd question."

"I know, but…" She let go of her knee and put her arms behind her, leaning on them as she looked me over. "I've always had this peculiar feeling, you see? We just never had the opportunity to sit down like this, so I could never ask you directly." She frowned slightly and let out a heavy breath. "That's also peculiar. Why is it so hard to have a private conversation with you nowadays? Even this meeting was brought about by pure chance."

"I guess because I have too many people around me," I proposed, and she accepted it with a hum.

"True. It's also one of the reasons why I'm asking. You were never much of a people-pleaser, yet now you're constantly surrounded by lovers, friends, and allies." Angie/Deus squinted at me, and I couldn't decide if she was accusatory or just curious. "So? Are you going to answer the question? Are you Polemos, or are you Leonard? Or maybe a mix of the two?"

That was a question much deeper than it might've looked on the surface, and I seriously wasn't expecting to encounter it today when I decided to get some fresh seaside air.

Really though, who was I? And this time I meant it will all the navel-gazing, philosophical weight of the question. I was living under the name of Leonard S. Dunning, but that was just the name I was saddled with from the day I woke up in the Simulacrum. Ignoring all the superfluous titles I gained afterwards, it was the identity I'd been using all this time, but I wasn't actually Leonard Dunning. The true Leonard Dunning of the Simulacrum's scenario was a Knight/Celestial double agent who was working under Percival and who met Penny in some orphanage.

That Leonard Dunning didn't exist. Maybe he never existed, to begin with. But I also wasn't Archon Polemos either. While I absorbed some of his memories, it was only a small fraction, and so I wasn't him. Instead, I was someone different. Something different, using these identities as masks while navigating the Simulacrum as best as I could. I was someone with many selves.

I was Leonard Blackloak, the mastermind behind the Draconic Federation and regent of House Inanna. I was the King of Knights and the Third Seat, clad in dark armour and commanding the loyalty of Knights and Draconians alike. I was the Second True Archon, ruler of all Celestials. And I was also Leonard S. Dunning, a student who attended school, hung out with his friends, spoiled his girlfriends and little sisters, watched funny cat videos during the night, and only occasionally rewrote all of reality.

On second thought, maybe trying to nail down my identity was a fool's errand to begin with. Ultimately, I was me. It was a bland answer, but it was the most accurate way to describe myself. Even if the Simulacrum suddenly ceased to exist tomorrow, and all of my names and titles with it, I would still be me. And that was enough.

Alas, such simple self-affirmation wasn't what Deus was looking for when she asked that question, and I couldn't exactly explain all of this to her. As such, I opted for a less accurate but still somewhat truthful response.

"Let's go with option number three."

She locked eyes with me, her gaze boring into me to see if I was joking or not, but in the end, she slouched and let out a surprisingly relieved sigh.

"I knew it. Considering the circumstances, I should've expected something like that."

"Circumstances?"

"Yes. Like this situation I have with the girl, or… whatever happened to that hateful cur." I was pretty sure she meant Bel by that, but I didn't have the opportunity to ask for clarification, as she soon barrelled on. "I should've known you would also suffer from some unintended side-effects of the reincarnation procedure, and…"

She abruptly fell silent and squinted at me again.

"And?" I prompted her, but she only squinted harder. "And what?"

"Be honest with me: did you do this to yourself?"

"Erm… What?"

She subtly rolled her eyes and sat up properly, dusting off her palms.

"You integrated into the current power structure of the world almost immediately. You kept all of your allies while also regaining your position in Elysium, making use of everything Leonard already accomplished. That's precisely what the Polemos I know would've done, justifying it all by saying 'It's the most efficient way to achieve optimal results'."

Her accusation was followed by a long beat of silence, yet I couldn't help but say, "That was a terrible impression of me."

"I'm no actor," Angie/Deus shrugged without breaking eye contact. "I'm right though, aren't I?" When I didn't respond right away, she exhaled an exasperated breath and folded her arms. "Seriously, you're just… Ugh. I can't even with you."

That… sounded suspiciously Angie-like, but I was pretty sure I was still talking to Deus.

"Leonard or Polemos, we're still friends though," she concluded, and it took me a second to realize that it wasn't a question. By then, she continued without waiting for me to respond. "Now that I think about it, you've been friends with the girl even before either of us was back. Is that the 'destiny' you sometimes talk about?"

My first instinct was to deny it, because 'being tied together by destiny' was a phrase that would've caused Judy's anti-harem countermeasures alarm to short out on the spot. Yet, on second thought, I tentatively nodded. After all, tit for that, we all knew each other because of the Simulacrum's scenario, and that was about as close to literal 'destiny' as it could get around here. Also, Judy wasn't here to hear it, so it was all good.

"Such a peculiar thing," she noted with a lopsided smile, and then suddenly poked me with her elbow, a gesture usually reserved to Josh. "Think about it: if things turned out differently, you and the girl could've started a romance before either of us knew who we were! Imagine how awkward that would've been!"

"Very," I responded bluntly. "Not that there was any chance of that happening."

"It's just a hypothetical," she shrugged, still grinning. "Still, the possibility that it could've happened is just… wow."

Once again, that was a very Angie thing to say, so maybe she was waking up. Or alternatively, their personalities were bleeding over. Deus had been insisting on 'being the same person', so it was a distinct possibility.

"Can we drop this topic? The two of us meeting here in the middle of the night is already odd enough, how about we keep the easily misconstrued romance-talk to the minimum, before Josh gets jealous."

"He doesn't even know I'm here, so…" She fell silent and scrunched up her brows. "On second thought, you might be right. We better not talk about hypothetical relationships."

"Especially when you're already in a concrete one."

"Yes, it's—" She abruptly blinked and then glared at me. "Hey! The girl is in a relationship, not me."

"Aren't you the same?"

"Yes, but…" Her brows continued to flicker between confounded and irked, ultimately settling on a garden-variety frown. "Listen, Polemos. I want you to understand that this and that are two different issues. I'm one with the girl, but we're not the same person."

"I noticed," I stated bluntly.

"Right. And it's not like I have any fond feelings towards the boy, anyway. If anything, I'm still mad that he took some of my power for himself."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm serious. I don't even understand what the girl sees in him. I mean, he certainly understands her, and they are definitely compatible, but just because of that, it doesn't mean that his charms are affecting me as well."

"So he's charming. I got it."

"No, what I'm trying to say is that…" She trailed off, eyes gradually narrowing, and before I could react, her elbow was digging into my side again. "You're teasing me! Stop it!"

"Ow."

My deadpan reaction earned me another jab under the ribs, and then she crossed her arms once more.

"That's it. No more talk about this. Let's change the topic."

"All right, I'm game. What else do you want to talk about?"

"Let's see…" She muttered to herself for a while, but then she suddenly snapped her finger and grinned at me. "Right! I wanted to ask for a favor regarding the boy."

"… Weren't we going to change the topic?"

"No, this is a completely different thing. None of that mushy nonsense," she scoffed and folded her hand under her other arm again. "Listen, the boy's been really stressing over his training as of late, and it's making the girl anxious. Would you please do something about it?"

"What exactly are you expecting me to do?" I asked back, and after some mulling and pondering, she grimaced and made a weird 'Nyeh?' noise.

"I don't know. Something that gives him a sense of progress? It's good that you gave him proper Celestial-made weapons and some guidance, but… can't you just teach him how to fire beams from his sword?"

"… Pardon?"

"You know what I mean. The final attack you used during your duel with the leech—" She abruptly cleared her throat. "I mean, the 'arch-mage'. The one with the big beard."

"Ambrose."

"Yes, that one. It was a magnificent strike, and I'm sure that if the boy had something similar in his repertoire, it would cheer him up considerably."

"I'm not sure I can do that…"

My rejection made her almost reel back and she let her arms down, only to place a hand over her heart.

"Polemos, please reconsider in light of our friendship."

"Wait, you're misunderstanding something here. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I'm not sure I can."

In fact, it would've been more accurate to say that I had absolutely no idea about how to do it, because it happened in the heat of the moment, and I never got around to experiment with the concept. To be fair, despite Cal's insistence, I didn't really need a beam attack. Between all my various other powers and abilities, getting a flashy move like that felt entirely superfluous, so I just swept it under the rug until now.

That said, since now that she reminded me of it… wouldn't that make a lot of sense? Giving Josh a beam attack, I meant. Thinking about it logically, from a Doylist point of view, the one thing he was desperately lacking as a battle-shounen-adjacent protagonist-type was a signature technique. Your traditional blue beams, named after kings of tropical island nations and whatnot. While I wasn't confident that I could teach something like that, I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try, and who knew? Maybe if I kept self-suggesting hard enough, he would develop one himself. It would've been high time these Narrative-influence powers worked in my favour for once.

Deus was looking at me earnestly in the meantime. No, scratch that. Puppy-dog eyes. That's what she was doing, which was pretty weird, knowing that it was coming from this ancient messianic figure.

"Oh, fine. I'll give it a try tomorrow, but I'm not promising anything."

"Good enough," she nodded, followed by a relieved sigh. "That will hopefully cheer him up a little." No sooner than she said that, she blinked and frowned at me. "Not that I care about the boy's mood swings, mind you. It's only so that the girl wouldn't feel so troubled. I couldn't care less myself."

I met her eyes, and after a long, long beat, it was my turn to sigh.

"Deus. Please stop being a tsundere. It's disturbing."

"… I don't know what that means, but…" Without warning, she pulled up her feet, lunged over, and caught my neck in a loose choke hold. "I told you not to tease me!"

She tightened her grip on my neck, though it still wasn't anything threatening. I played along by grabbing her arm, and she let out a soft snort.

"I'm just telling as I see it," I argued back, but she had none of it.

"I won't let you go until you take it back."

"Oh, fine." I rolled my eyes and let my hands down. "You're not a tsundere. Are you happy now?"

Instead of answering, she loosened her grip and draped herself over my shoulders the same way the princess would do from time to time. Of course, this also meant that her breasts, which were already touching me before, were now squished against my back. She didn't seem to care at all about that and smiled at me.

"Heh. This is just like old times. We used to horse around like this all the time, didn't we?"

She was clearly talking about Deus and Polemos here, which meant… Wait.

Polemos had a thing for Deus, and he was an aloof introvert. Deus was apparently the same kind of no-personal-space extrovert as Angie, with a penchant for expressing his emotions through physical contact. Q.E.D…

"Damn."

"Hm? Did you say something?" Deus asked, completely oblivious.

"Nothing. I just… felt nostalgic," I lied, but she took it at face value and rested her chin on my shoulder.

"Right. This really makes me feel like I'm back."

Whether she was referring to the night sky, clinging to my back, us talking unreservedly, or the combination of the three, I couldn't tell. However, one thing I was sure of: while I definitely wasn't Polemos, and I didn't share his infatuation, for the first time I felt like I could understand all the trouble he went through, and maybe even sympathize with him a little.

PART 3

Day seven of our vacation.

It was hard to believe that it's been almost a whole week since we came here. The weather was still perfect, the waters were still enticing, and the passage of time was as elusive as ever. As they say, time flies in good company, and I had fine company indeed.

"A tanned Dormouse is cute too," I said absently, causing the girl lying in front of me to glance over her shoulder.

"Just apply the sunscreen, please. It's a very important trope we nearly missed," Judy told me morosely, but I just smiled and picked up the tube from the sand.

"You really shouldn't treat this like a checklist," I said softly and began to spread the lotion on her back.

"Me next!" Elly chimed in and pretty much did a belly-flop next to my dear assistant on the blanket. "I want to trope too!"

"Easy there, princess." Chuckling, I squirted some of the stuff onto her back as well, and she let out a surprised yelp.

"Hauuu! It's cold!"

"Nah, it's just your skin is hot from being out in the sun all morning," I responded while kneading her back, and then returned to Judy. "You already have a healthy tan though."

"Hehe." She giggled, but then suddenly asked, "Should I unhook my top?"

"You're already having tan lines, so it doesn't matter, and I think it's best you keep in on, in case of an—"

"Chief, don't say 'emergency'. It's—"

"I know, I know, it's jinxing it. And I wasn't going to say that, anyway," I grumbled and spread the lotion on her calves."

"Don't miss my butt," Judy added, apropos of nothing, so I rolled my eyes and responded in a low voice.

"Do I ever?"

"No, Chief, this is important. Also, make sure you do the same with Elly."

"Yes! UV protection is important!" the princess chimed in, causing my other girlfriend to turn her head over and look at her with a slight frown.

"Yes, but that's not the point. We have to make sure to do the trope to the fullest, so that the Chief is less likely to get into redundant sunscreen application situations with other girls, creating UST."

"You're overthinking this. Again," I continued to grumble as I switched over to Elly, and she squirmed under my touch as I massaged the lotion into the back of her thighs.

"Ah, slow down! It tickles!"

I did as instructed and continued my previous train of thought.

"Who else would even ask me for something like this, anyway? Everyone's paired up, so there's no UST to be had with anyone."

"Except for Deus," she quipped, making my hand freeze for a moment on the small of Elly's back. Then, I turned to her again and lightly slapped my dear assistant's defenceless butt. "Ow."

"Quit it, Dormouse. I told you about what happened last night precisely so that you wouldn't have any weird misunderstandings."

"Is it a misunderstanding though?" she asked back, trying to sound provocative, but the way she was using her hands to defend her butt made her sound less than self-assured.

"Yes. If anything, Deus still sees me as Polemos, and someone completely out of his… strike zone? Yeah, let's go with 'strike zone'."

"Question," Elly interjected, extending her hand forward as if she were signalling to the teacher in the classroom. "Since the you-know-what, Angie says they're two parts of the same person, and you said Deus also says they're one, but Angie is a girl, so… Does that make Deus a 'she' now, or is he still a 'he'?"

"I have no earthly clue, and I don't really care much either," I said with a shrug and shifted over to Judy's shoulders. "They can figure it out for themselves, I'm just using whatever pronoun sounds convenient to tell them apart."

"Oh, no. The Chief said the 'p-world'. We're going to get cancelled," Judy stated, deadpan as ever, but the way she was once again defending her read told me she meant that as provocative.

"You're spending way too much time on the internet," I told her and continued to apply the sunscreen. For some reason, she clicked her tongue. What was that about?

"Maybe I should just ask them?" the princess proposed, and I let out an approving hum.

"Sounds like a plan."

"While you're there, ask them if they think the chief is hot," Judy followed me up, so I stopped rubbing her shoulders and glanced at the hands defending her buttocks again.

"Dormouse, be honest with me. Are you doing this on purpose just to see if I slap your butt again?"

"Yes," she answered shamelessly. "It's for research into your preferences."

"But if you're trying to get spanked, wouldn't that be your preference?" Elly chimed in innocently, causing my dear assistant to tense up.

"Good point, princess."

As a reward, I rubbed her nogging, and she let out a silly giggle while practically melting under my hand. Meanwhile, Judy exhaled an uncharacteristically awkward grunt, and stated, "Sometimes we all have to make personal sacrifices for science."

"Sure, sure."

In the meantime, I more or less finished lathering my girlfriends with sunscreen, and stood up. "I'll go grab a drink. Do you need something?"

"I'll need my front sunscreened too," Judy responded without any of her previous awkwardness.

"Let's do that when you're back," Elly added with just a hint of a blush. "M-Maybe that way we can make some of that 'yuu-ess-tee'?"

"Sorry, princess, but we're way past UST. We have RST."

"… What does that mean?"

"Ask Judy. I'll be right back."

With that, I turned around and headed to the stand set up at the far end of the beach. It was the same spot where Michael was trying to act like a mixologist a few days ago, and since then it morphed into a kind of beach bar, manned by volunteer Celestials a bit more versed in the trade. Of course, it also had non-alcoholic drinks and even some hot dogs and snacks. It wasn't just the stall and the menu that got expanded though, but now it also had a couple of shaded tables set up nearby, where the customers could eat and drink in peace.

It was shaping up more professional by the day, no doubt thanks to Dolion's efforts, but it also made me scratch my head. Sure, this was a proof-of-concept of the Elysium's potential tourism industry, as envisioned by the bespectacled ex-director, but creating all of this couldn't have been cheap. Not just that, but the stall was also completely free to use for us, yet hot dogs didn't grow on trees. Who was paying for all this? Was Dolion doing it out of his own pocket, was it a collaboration between the three Celestial ex-head-honchos, or was this being financed by taxpayer money?

…

Note to self: look into the Synderion's budget after this vacation is over. But putting that aside, I noticed a small group huddled together around one of the tables, and when I got closer, I was more than a little baffled by what was going on.

"I'm placing my Ancient Silverhide Hydra in attack position! His special skill allows him to attack all opponents at the same time! "

After exclaiming so, Penny dramatically slammed a sparkling card made out of some flexible mystery material onto the table, and with a flash of light, a chihuahua-sized, multi-headed white dragon popped out of it. It let out an adorable little roar as it flailed its many heads menacingly and took up a fighting pose, squaring off against the three tiny hoplite-looking fellows on the other side of the table, also hovering over similar cards.

On the left, midriff-woman, facemask-fella, hammer-lad and wetsuit-chap (aka. about half the Praetorian guards) let out excited gasps at the unfolding play. On the other side, Snowy, Abram, Lord Barnabas, and Michael were just as caught up in the 'action'.

"Oh no!" Mike, standing next to Ammy, exclaimed in genuine horror. "It's a Hasted monster that's immune to removal effects! Be careful, honeybun!"

Meanwhile, the class rep tweaked her glasses, only to then flash a menacing grin and use the same hand to grab one of her cards.

"You fool! You fell into my trap!" With that, she pulled it out and raised it high over her head. "I use Heroic Last Stand! For this combat phase, my monsters will survive with one hit point while reflecting the attacker's damage instead of their own attack value each time they're hit!"

She slammed the card onto the table, and it caused the three hoplites on her side to glow with green light and slap their shields with their spears before taking a defensive position. Then, as the tiny hydra attacked them, they each hit it back in turn, causing it to roar again and then burst into particles of light that were then sucked back into a now-dimmed card.

"Nooo! My Ancient Silverhide Hydra!" Penny wailed, but then glared at Ammy and clenched her free hand. "That does it! Now I'm angry! Take this!" She pulled out another card and showed it off. "I cast Blood Wind! By sacrificing my own health points, it causes one point of damage to all monsters on the field!"

"Ah, I see," Snowy commented from behind her, rubbing her chin with clear excitement. "Since all of her monsters only have one hit point left, it means they'll be wiped out!"

The moment Penny placed the card onto the table, a red whirlwind erupted from it that swept over Ammy's side, reducing her hoplites into colourful particles.

"Damn you!" Ammy hissed, and my sister flashed a cocky smile. "I'll get you back for this next turn!"

"Hah! You can't!" Penny continued to gleefully taunt her. "I've read all the card descriptions! I know that after using Heroic Last Stand, you can't summon any new monsters onto the field for a whole turn! Ka-ha-ha!"

It was at this point that I reached out and gently bonked her on the top of her head.

"Ow! Who dares—!" Penny glared at me, only to then shrink back at once. "A-Awawawa! B-Brother! Since when have you been here?"

"Long enough," I told her and poked her forehead. "Tone it back, Kiddo. Gloating is not very sportsmanlike."

"B-But she started it…" she whined, and when I glanced at Ammy, she conspicuously averted her eyes.

"You still shouldn't get too caught up in the moment. Play nice."

She nodded, and so I let them continue their game and turned to the rest of the group.

"Hey, son!" Dad-in-law belatedly greeted me with a grin. "Can I have a minute of your time?"

"Sure."

I walked closer to him, and he subtly pulled me into a huddle with the arch-mage.

"Listen, son. I've been talking with Barnabas here, and I think this Celestial card game might have commercial potential. Can you put us in contact with whoever made it?"

To be honest, I had absolutely no idea. I've seen Celestials play this game, and I was vaguely aware that the Praetorian Guards sometimes engaged in it when off-duty, but since I wasn't a big fan of card games, I never paid it much attention. More importantly, what Abram just said made me tilt my head a bit.

"You think it's marketable? Where? It uses magical holograms; you can't exactly sell it to the public."

"We were mainly considering the World of Mystics," Lord Barnabas commented a tad hesitantly, which immediately told me that he was most likely just caught up in Dad-in-law's pace and was considerably less enthusiastic about the idea. "The younger Magi of the Assembly… might be interested in such a game."

"It's just a TCG, though. Aren't they dime a dozen?"

I thought that was a reasonable question, but they both looked at me funny.

"What's a 'TCG'?" Abram blurted out, and I just pointed at the cards on the table.

"That. A game where someone collects and trades cards and builds decks of various compositions to challenge other players." They were still looking at me funny. "Have you seriously never heard of this before?"

They both shook their heads, which could mean one of three things: They were either completely out of the loop, TCGs were more of a niche than I thought, or for some reason they didn't exist in the Simulacrum. Whichever the case it was, it required some looking into.

"Let's get back to this once we're back on Critias, okay?"

"Sure, but don't dally too long!" Dad-in-law warned me in a jovial voice and patted my back. "The sooner we secure the distribution rights, the sooner we can corner the market!"

"Spoken like a true businessman," I noted a touch flatly, and he grinned at me like I just gave him glowing praise. I considered the topic closed, but there was something else I was curious about. "Where's Mom-in-law and the others?"

"Oh, Eris took the missuses to some kind of fancy beauty spa kind of place. I think."

"Sir Arnwald and Mr. Sennoma are in the company of Mr. Mensah," the dark-skinned arch-mage followed him up.

"They were talking about guns or something." Abram shrugged. "It's not really my world, so I came to have a drink instead, and that's when I noticed the…"

"Wait, can we go back a bit? What was that about Savir?"

"Your Celestial friend? Why, she's been getting along with the womenfolk quite well!" Dad-in-law said with a hearty chuckle, making me frown.

"First off, she's not my 'friend'. Secondly, didn't I specifically tell you that you shouldn't trust her as far as you can throw her?"

"Don't worry, son! I can throw people really far!"

Seeing my happy-go-lucky father-in-law grin at me while completely missing the point made me want to facepalm, but I resisted the urge and let out a shallow sigh instead.

"Never mind. I'll look into it later."

Just as I said that, there was a big commotion at the table, with one of the off-duty Praetorian Guards yelling, "Wow! Such an amazing counter-play!"

Ignoring them, I decided that it was as good an opportunity as any to cut this talk short, as the girls were still waiting for me and the drinks. They didn't specifically ask for any, but as a good boyfriend, it was my job to read between the lines. I bid my farewells to these two and headed to the bar, doggedly ignoring the overblown excitement radiating from the table over yonder.

It was only when the girls' fancy mocktails (and my considerably less fancy plain soda) were placed in front of me that I became aware of someone approaching me.

"What's up, sis?" I asked the moment Snowy stopped next to me. "Is the game over?

"No, I just came over to see if you need help carrying these."

It took me some effort not to immediately start rubbing her cute little noggin, but I held back and just smiled.

"Thanks, I think I can use the help, actually."

I picked up the two fancy cocktail glasses, while she carried my drink, and it was only after we were a good distance away from the stall and the unfolding card battle of epic proportions that I slowed down to a crawl and turned to her.

"So? What do you want to talk about?"

"… Was it that obvious?" she asked back, and when I nodded, she looked almost disappointed.

"Is there a problem? Is anyone bothering you?"

"N-No, nothing like that." She hastily shook her head and glanced over her shoulder. "You know, I was a little worried about coming here, but the people of Elysium are really nice."

"You mean, the common folk," I guessed. "Like the people we met at the fair."

"Y-Yes, them too, but everyone else here is also really friendly. I-I mean, I already met Mr Jaakobah and Mr Androcles in school, and the other guards too, but none of the Celestials looked at me funny, even though I'm from the Abyss."

"To be fair, you're also my little sister. That supersedes everything else," I jested, but she looked at me one hundred percent seriously.

"That's… one of the things I wanted to talk about," she started, sounding a bit less poised than before. "I've… kept my ears open, and I've heard those three— those directors you warned us about, talk about something happening in the Abyss, involving Noir, and…"

"Oh, great," I grumbled and glared at the sky, lacking an actual target to direct my annoyance at. "I suppose I'll have to dress them down, again."

"I-It wasn't their fault. I was just trying to do what Percival told me…" She must've been talking about the clandestine lessons she was taking on skullduggery from the old bastard.

"Are you worried about what's going on in the Abyss?"

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean…" She floundered for a bit, then let out a defeated moan. "I'm just… It's just… What if Noir tries to take me back again?"

"I'd like to see him try."

"No, I'm serious!" Snowy pleaded. "What if he actually tries?"

"Then I'll stop him."

"But you're now the leader of Elysium. And the Draconic Federation, too. If you fight him, it won't be just a personal conflict; it could lead to war!"

I remained silent for a few steps, then stopped and gestured for her to turn to me. She did so, and then I handed over one of the drinks in my hands to her. She was confused for a moment, but only until I used the newly freed-up hand to tousle her hair.

"Listen up, Snowy. I generally consider wars to be a terrible, unjustifiable thing, whether they're fought over land, power, resources, or old grudges. However, if it's about protecting my little sister from her abusive dick of a biological brother, I'll make an exception." I let that sink in, but then the atmosphere was getting a bit too heavy, so I jovially added, "Also, it's not like I'll have to drag the whole world into this. If he pisses me off enough, I'll just throw him into the sun, or something."

"I… can't decide if you're joking, or serious."

"That's the point. Keep 'em guessing," I said with a wink, and Snowy was just about to smile, even giggle a bit, when we were both startled by an impact at our side.

"Leo! Listen, I have a new idea!" Angie exclaimed the moment her soles hit the ground, and when I frowned at her, she uttered a confused, "What?"

"Do you mind? We were having a nice brother/sister bonding moment here! Geez!"

"O-Oh, sorry…" She muttered, but then she suddenly held out her racket and exclaimed, "But since it's already gone, can you listen to me?"

By the by, she was wearing something resembling her tennis practice outfit and holding what looked like a plain (if unusually large) and faintly glowing Badminton racket.

"So, you know, the new Skyminton balls work great, but it's kind of lame that there's only one ball in play," she chattered on, completely ignoring my continued frown. "I was thinking, could we add extra balls for added challenge? Ones that fly on their own and target people, so that the other players would have to something to do, defending the player focusing on the main ball?"

"That's a…"

"And then, I had this even better idea!" she cut me off, clearly too excited to notice my mounting disapproval. "You see, what if we also added floating rings as goalposts? So instead of trying to score by making the other team miss the main ball, you could earn points by hitting the ball into the rings!"

"It sounds like…"

"But then! But then I had and even even better idea! You see, we could then add another ball that would be super-fast and fly around on its own, and the team that manages to hit it would get a whole lot of points, and then—"

"Stop! You're going to get us sued for patent violation if you keep this up!" I burst out, finally managing to get a word in.

"Come on, buddy! Don't be like that!" Angie sidled up to me and repeatedly patted me on the back. When she saw that it didn't work, she then immediately changed tactics and used the sad-puppy-in-the-rain stare instead. "Pwetty pwease?"

"… You know that you're in forehead-flicking range, right?"

The moment that came up, she immediately jumped back and stuck out her tongue.

"Boo! You're a meanie!"

And with that, she flashed her wings again and took into the air, flying backwards while making childish gestures at me. The messiah of the Elysium and all Celestials, everyone.

Anyhow, I turned back to Snowy, whose head was still under my palm.

"Sorry, sis. Where were we?"

"Mm. It doesn't matter." She looked up at me and flashed a brilliant smile. "I'm not worried anymore."

"That's good." I gave her head one last good rub, just for good measure, and took back the cocktail glass from her. "Was that the only thing bothering you?"

"Um… N-No, actually," she whispered as we started walking again, and after a long beat, she told me, "I'm worried about Tajana."

"You mean, right now, or in general?"

She blinked at me and gave my question a lot of thought.

"In… general? Because if there's a war, she's also going to be targeted by Noir, but unlike me, she's not part of the family, and… I guess right now too, because I haven't seen her in a while."

I couldn't say that she was wrong, but her worry felt a bit misplaced. While she indeed wasn't part of our family, Tajana was already considered to be something of a big sister, or maybe older-cousin type figure for Snowy, so I treated her as a VIP. I even had Roland and the Fauns look after her, so there was no chance in hell that anything could happen to her unless she did something monumentally stupid. Which wasn't entirely off the table, but I doubted she'd have the opportunity with so many eyes on her.

Still, if it would put my Abyssal sister at ease…

"Do you want me to take you home and say hi to her?"

"Y-You really don't need to…"

"I was planning to go there and pick up some… um… stuff, and taking you along wouldn't be a bother."

I wasn't lying, though telling her that I needed to make a trip because I was running low on contraceptives would've been inappropriate. After some thinking, Snowy ultimately nodded.

"All right. Let's deliver these to the girls, and then we'll make a quick round trip, and…" I got that far, but when I reflexively did a Far Glance at them, my feet stopped. "A moment."

I didn't wait for her to respond, but instead I closed my eyes, and my point of view was fully flung back to Critias. More precisely, my house. Even more precisely, my bathroom, where two people, dressed only in their underwear, were busying themselves while conspicuously trying to avoid eye contact. Roland was shaving his chin with mechanical motions, while Tajana was brushing her long, damp hair, standing side by side in front of the mirror over the sink.

"This was a one-time thing," Roland stated blandly, and the startled Abyssal nearly dropped her hairbrush.

"Y-Y-Yes, obviously!" she stuttered, her face red as a tomato.

"Nobody has to know about this."

"R-Right! You… You mustn't tell My Lady about it!"

"She was obviously part of the category 'nobody'," the man scoffed and washed his razor under the running water of the sink. "You also better not tell Leonard."

"W-Why would I even want to!?" she burst out, and this time she did manage to drop her hairbrush.

Roland reflexively reached after it, and so did she, so instead of catching it, their fingers touched in the air. They both froze up and pulled their hands back like they just touched the hot stove.

"Don't get any… strange ideas, just because of what happened last night," Roland spoke, sounding uncharacteristically flustered.

"W-What are you talking about!? If anyone should say that, it's m-me!" Tajana yelped, taking a step back. "D-Don't try to take advantage of me because of what happened in… in a moment of weakness!"

"A moment of weakness, you say? Weren't you the one who started it?"

"B-But I never thought you would… I mean…" She hid her face behind her hands and let out a pitiful whine. "Uuu… We can't let anyone learn about this!"

"I thought we already agreed on that." Roland responded blandly, but then he subtly glanced at the mortified woman and added, "Also, for your information, I would never take advantage of a lady, so you can rest assured."

"A-Are you telling me I'm not a 'lady'?"

"No, I'm saying the exact opposite."

"Then why did you take advantage of me last night?"

"Me? You were the one who…!"

And so on and so forth and… Geez. I would've liked to say that I didn't see that coming, but I literally warned Sir Roland about something like this, so I washed my hands of this whole thing. They're both adults, so I was sure they will work it out with each other.

"S-Stop looking at me with those lecherous eyes!"

"I'm not, and if you're so bothered, why don't you put on some clothes?"

"I-I'm not bothered! You're bothered! You put on some clothes!"

"Who's bothered by what now?"

"I-I-I don't know! Just please, don't look at me!"

…

Or maybe not.

I returned to my body and opened my eyes with a shallow sigh.

"On second thought, how about we visit tomorrow? I think Tajana and Roland are a bit busy today."

"Oh. Okay," Snowy responded, none the wiser of the development unfolding back home. I wish I was unaware as well, but what could I do at this point? There's always something, wasn't there?